


Welcome to the Winchesters World, Avengers

by professorandre1228



Series: Winchesters and the Avengers [2]
Category: Supernatural, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Caring!Sam, Gen, Whump!Sam, avengers to the rescue, kidnapped!Dean, shifter!Sam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-11-10
Packaged: 2021-01-16 17:51:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 19,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21275267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/professorandre1228/pseuds/professorandre1228
Summary: Now that Sam, Dean, Castiel, and Kevin have been vetted by the Avengers, they work to figure out how to work together.  It begins with a simple shopping trip.  Simple, right?  Not in the Winchesters world.





	1. How Can We Help?

Later that morning, five of the Avengers, as well as the two hunters and the current prophet appeared in the library and took seats around one of the tables. Thor had opted to return to Asgard to update Odin and Friga. Castiel had asked to come along to see if they could help the angels unseat Metatron and return them to Heaven. Tony and Bruce sat next to each other and had their tablets up and were scrolling through data and readouts, conferring in whispers. Occasionally, one of them would lean over and confer with Sam, who sat slouched in the chair next to Bruce. To Dean, who sat on the far end, next to Clint, with Natasha on Clint’s other side, his brother looked completely relaxed and in his element. Steve and Kevin sat side by side between the two groups. 

“Now that we are all on the same page,” Steve said, standing up. “We need to come to a decision on where to go from here.” Everyone, even Tony and Bruce sat up to pay attention. “Once we go our separate ways, how could we come up with ways to assist each other, although I’m not sure what we can do against the supernatural or how your group could help us with global terrorism.” Several heads bobbed in thoughtful agreement.

“Sam, you and your friends, are always welcome in Avenger’s Tower,” Tony said with a smile. Dean internally snorted at how it was ‘_Sam and friends’_. “I’d also like to offer a monthly endowment to you guys as a group to do your jobs without having the hassle of hustling anymore.” Dean did make a noise then.

“Dude, hustling pool is fun though!” He looked between Tony, with his amused smile, and Steve, with that disappointed look. “Fine, I’ll take your stupid money.” Clint snorted out loud and Natasha cuffed him on the back of the head. 

“And I’d like to hire Sam to assist me and Bruce with doing research for a comprehensive guide to the supernatural for laypersons,” Tony turned his smile onto Sam. The young hunter looked over at Dean in surprise, who was giving him that encouraging look he’d given him as an older brother many times when they were younger, when Sam had been nervous or afraid about receiving positive attention for something.

“Um, okay,” Sam finally said, shrugging at Dean before he returned Tony’s offered handshake. Natasha smiled at how flustered the tall man was at the offer. Clint slid his foot over and tapped against hers in Morse code.

‘Ask him out,’ Clint tapped. Natasha blushed when she got the message. Clint was amused as he hadn’t seen Natasha blush ever, unless it was on purpose while luring in a target. 

‘Shut up,’ she replied. Before he could reply something snarky (witty, he would have said), she dug her heel into his shin. He yelped and pulled away from her. Everyone turned towards them, eyeing Clint for his outburst. The Avengers eyed her as well, but she returned all their gazes coolly, giving no indication that she knew what had happened. Sam looked up in concern but ended up looking at Natasha instead. She only briefly met his eyes, dropping hers to her hands right after.

“Dude, you okay?” Dean asked, looking under the table. 

“Moving on,” Steve sighed. “We can communicate through Jarvis, I believe.” Tony nodded.

“I’ve also currently got Jarvis working on having your criminal records wiped from, well, everywhere so you won’t get sidelined again because of it.” Tony was tapping on his tablet, not looking up. Sam and Dean blinked at each other and then at Tony and the rest of the Avengers. “It’s going to take some time as some of the charges are pretty serious, but with enough edits and legalese in place, you guys should eventually just be able to go back to private citizen status’ rather than FBI Most Wanted.” He did look up then.

“Tony…,” Dean said, then he swallowed, “I…we don’t know how to thank you for that.” Sam just nodded with Dean’s words. Tony waved dismissively at them.

“It’s all misperceptions anyway,” he said.

“I’ve spoken to Director Fury and SHIELD has agreed with our assessment,” Steve said, pulling their focus back to him. “You’ll be given SHIELD badges as field liaisons, so you won’t have to use fake agency badges any longer. If you continue to use fake agency identification and are caught, there will be new charges and those will cause more trouble for SHIELD than you are currently worth.” Sam and Dean looked at each other with that silent communication before turning back to Steve and nodding in sync.

“Next,” Steve returned their nod, “We should return to New York sooner rather than later, so I’d offer two to three more days here before we must return, unless there’s an Avenger’s alert before then. Our first order of business will be to assist with refilling your food storage, including dry goods, frozen food, and perishables. Our group requires a lot of food at each meal and I can assume that we’re already straining your stores. Kevin has been kind enough to make a grocery list, so Tony, and I will go with him later today to purchase as much as possible to get you guys all stocked up for a while. Tony is paying so the only question is transportation. I’m assuming your car will not be large enough for us and the food.”

Dean pointed over his shoulder with his thumb. 

“There’s cars and motorcycles in the garage,” Dean said. “All classics now, but I’ve managed to get them up and running.” Tony and Clint’s eyes lit up with the desire to get up close with them. “After we’re done here, I can show you guys what we got. And there’s a Uhaul in town so we could just rent a truck for everything and bring it that way.”

“Um, I want to hit the farmer’s market and get some fresh fruit and vegetables,” Sam spoke up while leaning forward.

“You know we’re talking about a Uhaul truck full of food, right?” Dean looked confused. Sam rolled his eyes.

“Dean, not all of us live on processed cheese, starches, and bacon. I know at least Bruce shares my preferences.” He looked over at Bruce, who smiled at him. “Unless I’m wrong and feel free to contradict me.”

“No, you’re right. I would love to go with you the farmer’s market. Natasha?” Natasha felt a grateful smile on her lips and knew that Clint was dying to laugh out loud at her.

“I would love to come with you guys,” she nearly purred, hearing her best friend swallow hard as a single snort escaped. She narrowed her eyes at him and he stilled, turning his face away, but keeping her in his peripheral vision. Sam was sure he’d missed something.

“Okay, we’ll take one of the cars.” Sam sat back, glancing back and forth between Clint and Natasha.

“And I need to hit a hardware or home improvement store for carpentry and metalwork supplies to make the archive and dungeon more secure. Guess that leaves me and Clint in Baby, unless you want to hang back here or go with the others?” The archer did not object to going with Dean. “Great, all settled.” Dean smiled.

Steve looked around and got agreement from the rest of them. 

“Next we’ll be discussing security here and at the tower, to prevent current events from repeating at either location. Tony, have you had a chance to look at the computer system here?” Tony tilted his head.

“Barely, but I know I’ll probably need Sam’s help on the layout to figure out how it’s all routed and functioning. Like I said before, it’s an engineering marvel from what I have seen.” Kevin and Sam nodded knowingly.

“Kevin knows more about the layout and functioning of the bunker than any of us,” Sam said, “So he would really be helpful in figuring out where the circuits run.” Tony hummed.

“Now, supernatural security here appears to be pretty solid, but Tony has expressed his intent to install cameras at all the entrances and having them feed through your tablets and computers and to have Jarvis monitor for unexpected visitors or attacks.” Sam and Dean exchanged looks.

“Um, not sure I want to be watched,” Kevin raised his hand to interrupt.

“No,” Tony replied, “They’re only pointing outside or the public rooms, like the library, entry way, and garage, so you’ll be able to see who’s at the door or whatever before you open it. Or if someone is trying to sneak up.” 

“Oh, that’s cool then. Thank you.” The brothers shrugged and offered their thanks as well. Steve noted the acceptance.

“As for security in the tower, what can we do to further safeguard it besides tear it down and start over?” Steve asked. Clint leaned forward.

“From what I got from the demon,” he said, suppressing a shudder, “And Dean and Sam will have to confirm or deny this, but this place is built reinforced with salt, right? I mean, I felt that things serious aversion to it.” Dean nodded.

“All the walls and doors, ceilings and floors are coated.”

“And from what I’ve seen, holy water.” Clint waited for Dean to nod. “If we’re talking more than demons though, that’ll be for the hunters to say.” Dean leaned forward.

“Iron burns almost all supernatural creatures. Silver will burn most of the rest of them. But iron even burns fairies.” Dean started.

“Fairies?” Asked Tony and Clint at the same time. Sam snorted this time, remembering Dean’s brush with the fae when the younger brother had been soulless.

“Yes, freaking fairies,” he grumbled. “But the best way to slow them down is salt, sand, or even beans. Throw some down and every damn one of them who sees it has to get down and count each grain. Then stab them with an iron knife and you’re fairy free.”

“You are talking about little fluttering Tinkerbells?” Clint asked, trying to smother a laugh. Natasha slapped his arm. Sam laughed but for a different reason.

“Sure, some are little…naked…ladies,” Dean stuttered, glancing at Natasha awkwardly. “They bite, but they microwave well.” They saw Sam grimace and several sets of eyes blinked in confusion. “And leprechauns are assholes that will screw you over as soon as look at you.” 

“Basically, an unbroken salt line at every opening into the building would keep a lot of things out.” Sam said. “Bobby’s panic room walls were iron, coated with a salt and holy water mixture.”

“If that’s true,” Clint sobered, but still cast a smirk at Dean every now and again, “If we have all the entrances replaced with iron frames and have all of those frames coated with a salt and holy water layer, that would go a long way to making the Tower secure.” He looked between Sam and Dean. They both nodded.

“And don’t forget the demon traps and Seals of Solomon,” Dean said.

“I’ll send you better artwork for both of those before you leave for New York,” Sam assured Tony.

“The best thing about those,” Dean smirked, “Is you can paint them in UV paint, so they look invisible and they still do the job.” Tony gasped.

“You mean to tell me, I had my bots painting those symbols in black paint at every entrance when I could have used UV paint and my tower wouldn’t look like it has herpes?” He nearly yelled. Dean suddenly turned to Sam with an evil smile.

“Dude, Herpexia.” Sam rolled his eyes and dropped his head onto his arms on the table.

“Dean, shut it.” The young man groaned softly.

“Hey, just ‘_doing all I can’_,” Dean snickered.

“What…?” Tony started, then threw up his hands. “No, nevermind. If we’re going to have to reframe every entrance, we can repaint at the same time and add some silver into the frames themselves.” He grumbled more. Sam lifted his head.

“You can also put the symbols under the floorboards, panels, whatever and they still work. We’ve put them under rugs, on ceilings.” Sam shrugged.

“I never did ask you how the hell you got that up there in that warehouse,” Dean said, leaning towards Sam, furrowing his forehead.

“Dude, I had time and I’m tall,” Sam replied dryly. Clint, Bruce, and Tony all snorted at that one.

“What warehouse?” Clint asked. 

“During Sam’s soulless romp, we were fighting Crowley and his demons and ended up captives in a warehouse,” Dean elaborates with slumped shoulders. “I was tossed into a room as ghoul chow but Sam chewed into his own wrist for blood to use to make a devil’s trap on the ceiling of his cell to trick them in and get away so he could save me. But that was RoboSam, never even paused to consider the damage he did to himself.”

“It was just logical for self preservation, I guess,” Sam shrugged, scrunched down into himself a little. The Avengers didn’t comment but the SHIELD agents did add that mental note to the gentle giant.

After that, Steve outlined the plan as discussed. They broke up in their groups and headed to the garage to choose vehicles. 

Dean strode into the garage with his arms thrown wide, a huge smile on his face. 

“Gentlemen, and lady,” he crowed. “Meet my children.” Kevin and Sam rolled their eyes and continued past him. Tony and Clint had equal looks of ‘oooh’ and ‘aaaah’ on their faces. They went from vehicle to vehicle, running gentle hands along chrome and delicate surfaces. “They were left behind when the last chapter was destroyed and the bunker locked down. When we do have downtime, I come here to relax. Cleaned ‘em up, serviced the engines, checked all the parts. All nice and functional. Keys are in the ignitions.”

The rest of the Avengers moved between the cars and motorcycles, while not enthralled like Iron Man and Hawkeye, they could appreciate the classic beauties that waited in the stalls. 

“Of course,” Dean smirked, “Baby will always be my first choice.” He ran a protective hand down the top of the front side panel to the driver’s side door. 

Sam grabbed the only one with ample legroom, as well as more than a two-seater, and waved Bruce and Natasha over. While the other groups were still discussing the classics and Dean’s awesomeness (99% Dean on that one), they slipped into the black, 50’s era Chrysler Imperial sedan and pulled out of the garage through the underground tunnel. As soon as they were outside, Natasha rolled down her window and leaned out to feel the wind on her face and hair. She smiled broadly. Bruce, from his spot in the backseat, caught Sam, his own lips open in a smile that made him look younger, glancing over at her, and looked back and forth between the two of them, as if just realizing what at least Clint had seen for a while now. He did not miss the way Tasha sat back and spent the rest of the drive glancing at Sam with the same look he had given her when she wasn’t looking. Once or twice, he caught them looking at each other at the same time and definitely didn’t miss how Sam’s neck and ears reddened as he cleared his throat or looked away quickly. 

“So, Sam,” Bruce asked from the back seat, once they were fully away from the bunker. “From what I saw in your library and what you said, you at least read what, some Japanese, Latin, Spanish, Russian, Hebrew?” Sam blushed again slightly.

“And um, some Greek, Egyptian, Gaelic, Welsh, Italian, Romanian, Aramaic and a few more obscure ones. Bobby really was great at teaching me languages. I’m pretty fluent in Latin and Spanish at least. Dean can read some Spanish, Latin, and Hebrew, but he’s more about the weaponry and tactics.”

“And you’ve actually had a reason for using each of those languages?” Natasha asked curiously.

“Well, we had a Japanese shojo spirit killing people a few years ago. That was…interesting…at the very least because the only people who could see the spirit had to be drunk.” Bruce laughed. “Dean was caught by the Egyptian god Osiris once who put him on trial for his life and I got to be his lawyer. Then there’s Aaron, he’s one of the last surviving members of the Judah Initiative. He is fighting the Thule, they’re undead Nazi’s, with his rabbinical golem. There’s a need for Spanish, if only for talking to witnesses or victims who only speak Spanish. There hasn’t always been a reason for us to directly use a specific language but sometimes the lore crosses cultures and the only references we have are in a different language. Like for the Russian,” Sam glances at Natasha. “We haven’t dealt with many Russian spirits or demons but some of the only accurate lore on some types of spirits is in a few books we located only in Russian. And a lot of biblical references are in the older languages, like Aramaic and Latin.”

“Well, if you can think of anything you might need translated that you haven’t gotten to yet,” Bruce said from the backseat, “I know Natasha, Clint, and Tony speak quite a few languages. Natasha knows more than Clint or Tony though. I’m sure she’d be happy to lend her services.” Natasha and Sam glanced at each other and both blushed and hurriedly looked away. Bruce had to bite his lip and swallow hard to keep from laughing.

“Y-yeah, uh, yeah, that’d be, um, great. You know…if-if you want to…,” Sam coughed out.

“Certainly, yes, I can do that,” Natasha replied, keeping her eyes out the passenger window. She caught Bruce’s reflection and scowled at the hidden amusement.

“Great. That’d be, um, great. Thanks.” The rest of the ride was awkward silence as the hunter studiously kept his eyes on the road.

*****

Steve and Thor had spent a few minutes trying to pull Tony away from the car discussion with Dean and Clint, but it turned out to be Kevin who was able to just hook his arm with the millionaire’s and drag him to the beautiful, red 1955 MGA 1500. It was a two-seater, so Steve opted to take a motorcycle. Tony started it up and let his eyes roll heavenward as she purred to life under him. Steve waited for them to head down the tunnel before following them, as Kevin would have to direct their travel.

Dean and Clint climbed into the Impala, Dean behind the wheel as they followed the rest of them out of the bunker, the door falling closed behind them.

The grocery trio parked the motorcycle at the Uhaul center as Tony refused to give up the MGA just yet. Steve drove the truck and followed them to the big box store parking lot first, as some items were just better in bulk, like toilet paper, poptarts, etc. Amazingly, Kevin had a pretty comprehensive list and with Tony and Steve there to load, carry, and pay for everything, the prophet felt pretty accomplished at the half full truck as they headed on the local grocery store for the items that couldn’t be gotten at the big box store. Tony was clueless as to the cost of items and continued to urge Kevin to make sure they had plenty as Steve couldn’t come every few weeks just to carry loads like this. Steve and Kevin both smirked at him.


	2. When is a door not a door

At the farmer’s market, Bruce and Natasha were pleasantly surprised to find a rather large and diverse gathering of local produced items, including vegetables, fruit, and craft items. There were also displays of local services, like tree cutting and meals and wheels. Even more surprising was that apparently Sam was well known and well regarded by most of the vendors and attendees. Before they had even left the parking area, Sam was smiling broadly and responding to hails and friendly waves. A few motherly types had pulled the tall man down into hugs, making him promise to visit them in whatever establishment they ran. 

And Sam was soaking up the open and friendly atmosphere, bantering easily with the stall merchants. At the stall where they took donations for the local homeless shelter, Sam discreetly dropped some cash into the collection box while he talked to the priest who manned it. As busy as the market was, and as discreet as Nat and Bruce were trying to be, they only caught snippets of the various conversations.

“Your presence at the homeless shelter has been sorely missed, young man.”

“I’m sorry. Circumstances sometimes don’t leave me time to do more, father.”

“You already do more than enough but everyone is always happier when you’re serving-“

“-found a job and he’s just been dying to thank you for your help.”

“Brad did all the work. I just pointed him in the right direction.”

“Sam! You get more handsome every day.”

“I only look better because your beauty overshadows my flaws.”

“-has been asking about you.”

“Dean and I have been pretty busy lately-“

“-you stop by, I’ll have those pants ready for you.”

“Thanks, I’ll plan to stop in next week. We have guests for a little while and-“

“So, no jogging shorts today?” An older woman asked with a soft smile. At this Natasha smiled and tried NOT to imagine Sam in jogging shorts and a sweaty t-shirt. 

“No, I haven’t had a lot of time to do more than exercise for necessity rather than fun lately.”

“Well, we always miss seeing you at the coffee shop during your morning runs.”

“I’m hoping to get back to being able to do that again soon.”

“Remember, you don’t have to jog to stop in for coffee.”

By the time they’d made the first circuit of the market area, Sam had spoken to a good portion of the attendees at least once. The towns people had also addressed Nat and Bruce with friendliness, if only because they were with the young man. As their faces weren’t as widely known as most of their teammates, they were not infamous here.

“You jog into town?” Bruce asked him as he noshed on a juicy organic gala apple. Sam was chewing on a licorice root and nodded.

“When I have the time, I’ll do the full run into town and visit, pick up breakfast, or stop in and work at one of the shelters before I jog home. We spend so much time on the road, it just feels good to connect and give back to the community that has welcomed us.” Sam shrugged on shoulder.

“From what I understand,” Bruce smiled around another bite, using his thumb to wipe stray juice from his chin, “when you guys are on the road, it’s usually because you’re already doing something to help people.” He side-eyed Sam as they continued to walk. Sam blushed, but only lightly.

“That’s different,” he replied barely loud enough for them to hear him. “It may sound selfish, but being able to see the smile on the faces of people up close and personal is part of what makes it more than worthwhile for the other part of our lives.” Sam continued walking, swinging his canvas bags of vegetables gently. Bruce and Natasha stopped in their tracks, contemplating the quiet giant before moving forward again.

It was nearly noon, peak attendance time, when an elderly man in thick workpants called Sam over. He began telling the younger man about a rare book he picked up at a flea market over in Oregon while he was visiting his sister and wanted Sam to take a look and see if he wanted it for his ‘collection’. He even mentioned giving it to the man for what he paid, a few dollars, rather than trying to profit. Apparently, the hunters had explained away their interest in ancient books used for supernatural research as just a collection of rare or unusual books for personal enjoyment.

Sam waved Bruce and Natasha on towards the food stalls and told them he would join them shortly after he’d had a look at the elderly man’s find. They drifted towards the delicious smells and glanced back to where the two men disappeared into the crowd, Sam bent over in consideration to the other older man’s height to hear him over the other people. They were just sitting down at one of the picnic tables with some fresh lemonade and black bean burgers on homemade 12-grain bread when their friend reappeared and plopped down next to them.

“So, not a find for you then?” Natasha asked, noticing the lack of a book in his hands. Sam looked distracted for a moment.

“No, it wasn’t.” Sam fidgeted, shaking his head when the red-headed woman tried to offer him part of her bread.

“You okay, Sam?” She asked him. He fidgeted more and grimaced slightly, watching her closely.

“Just feel like something’s going to happen, like we need to get back to the bunker.” It seemed like that was all the explanation they were going to get as Sam abruptly stood up and headed towards the parking lot, so they tossed the remnants of their meal and moved to follow him.

*****

“So everything you guys told us about yourselves is true?” Clint was asking Dean as they crossed the threshold into the home improvement store. Dean chuckled.

“Yeah, I don’t think I had the mental stamina to exaggerate, much less lie, over the past few weeks. With the angels, the demons, Sam…shit, everything. With all that, it’s been hard enough to keep going, much less try to keep lies straight.” Clint knew that feeling.

“I have a feeling there’s even more that hasn’t even been touched on yet,” he finally said without trying to be antagonistic. Dean glanced over at Clint.

“Yeah, so, so much more than could be covered in the few days before you guys head home. But ask anything and Sam and I will do our best. And I’m assuming since we’re now all one big team-,” Dean grinned but Clint interrupted him with a laugh.

“Dude, you are so not an Avenger.” The hunter gasped dramatically and clasped his hand over his chest.

“Rude!” They both started laughing. “But now that we’re working together, we’ll have plenty of time to share shit.”

“There will always be things we can’t share,” Clint warned Dean, who held up his hand and closed his eyes.

“Totally get you there. There’s stuff Sam and I don’t even talk about with each other.” They continued walking and turned to lighter subjects, like Cas’ odd behaviors and Thor’s grandiose speeches.

*****

Kevin, Steve, and Tony were finishing on the frozen food aisle in the grocery store and heading for checkout when their phones buzzed with a message. It was from Clint. Apparently, when Dean had turned down an aisle looking for hinges to fix one of the doors, he had vanished. All he had found out of place was a metal pry bar on the floor and the faint smell of sulfur when he had rounded the corner. Clint had already called Natasha, who was already heading to the car with Bruce and Sam to get over to the home improvement store. He had purchased the metal bar after noticing a smear of blood along one end and just in case there was some supernatural residue that could provide a clue to his location. Steve left Tony and Kevin to close out the purchase and load up the truck as he took the MGA over to meet them there. Tony had wanted to go with Steve but Kevin had argued that the food would spoil if they left it for the search and Steve had agreed, as well as insisted that if it was demons, as the information they had indicated, then Tony wouldn’t be any added help right now, not that the rest of the Avengers would be either.

Tony grumbled about not getting to drive the car home and being stuck in a plebian Uhaul, but Kevin just scolded him for being spoiled and he quieted down. Kevin seemed to have the same natural control effect that Pepper had, and it unnerved him. Having seen how he helped Dean take care of Sam though, he was glad the kid had that skill. The young hunter’s history was riddled with all kinds of tragedies and trauma, some shared by his brother, but most aimed at and taken on by Sam as some personal burden. Dean’s burden appeared to be keeping Sam functioning and shielding him from what bad things that he could. It was a big brother’s curse, but the blessing to the world.

The first update came while they were loading the last of the packages and bags into the truck. Steve had met Clint at the store, with Sam, Bruce, and Natasha arriving very shortly after. They had all searched the store, with Natasha taking the hidden shelves and backrooms, while Clint had climbed into the rafters to search from above, but there had been no further evidence. The Impala’s keys had been in Dean’s pocket, so Clint rode with Steve back to the bunker. Kevin and Tony climbed up inside the Uhaul’s cabin, Tony refusing the touch the console, so Kevin drove. They were worried though, so Tony told the prophet about the cameras he had already installed and pulled them up on his tablet. Kevin wanted to be angry but was secretly happy they were there now.

So, it happened that while Kevin was driving, Tony saw both the cars approaching the front of the bunker, leaving the cars out of the garage as they might be needed again in a hurry. He watched Bruce, Steve, and Natasha gather up several bags from the farmer’s market and head into the bunker, with Sam and Clint right behind, close together, examining the metal bar. As they stepped through the bunker door, Sam flinched, glanced up at the top of the doorframe and Tony’s breath froze.

“What was the thing with the eye flare again?” Tony asked. Kevin barely registered the question as his mind was on Dean, but he responded automatically.

“Shapeshifter, looks like a cat’s eyes do when you shine a flashlight at them.”

“Huh, so Sam’s eyes should NOT flare on camera, right?” The truck jolted as the driver jerked the wheel in surprise.

“Oh, crap.” Kevin pulled over quickly and had Tony replay the image so he could confirm, which he did. “Oh crap! That’s not Sam.” Tony grabbed his phone and dialed Steve as Kevin pulled the truck back onto the road and floored it. 

“Hey, uh, Steve,” Tony said, sweat forming on his forehead, “I hate to alarm you guys, but Kev and I were checking the cameras I already installed there at the bunker to see if Dean was there for some reason and uh, don’t respond out loud, but, uh, Sam…isn’t Sam. Kevin says it’s a shapeshifter. Not sure how he can hurt you or how you can stop him, but I need you guys to be alert, okay? I saw Natasha heading to the kitchen with Bruce so I’ll text them. Hopefully Widow can signal Clint somehow…Yeah, I’m asking Kev if he knows how to stop that thing and find Sam…well, give me a damn minute.” He turned towards Kevin.

“Um, Sam is definitely alive somewhere, probably near the farmer’s market since Natasha and Bruce couldn’t have lost sight of him that long and with all the people there who know him, it would have been hard to do much so quickly. And silver will kill the shapeshifter. There’s a silver knife in both Sam and Dean’s room. And the crossbow on the library wall has a silver tip. Oh, and don’t let it touch you. It can take on your form if it does.” Kevin was frowning and had already blown through two traffic lights in his haste.

“Did you get that? Yes, I’m texting in another window to Widow now to keep Bruce out of reach of this thing. A fake, non-friendly Hulk would really be bad right now. You guys be careful. We’re only like 10 minutes away.” Tony hung up. He held the phone tightly until it dinged with an acknowledgement from Natasha and Bruce, then he took a few deep breaths and returned to watching the camera in one window and pulling up another system in a new window.

The fake Sam was surreptitiously looking around the library, eyes flaring on the camera any time they turned that way, even if they never landed on it exactly. Clint was oblivious, pacing the room as Sam pretended to scan the shelves and pulled out a book before seating himself at one of the library tables. Steve entered the frame from the direction of the kitchen and walked across the library, right past fake Sam and the agitated Clint. Tony caught Cap’s eyes flickering towards them, but neither appeared to notice. It wasn’t until Natasha came from the kitchen hallway and began talking that Clint hesitated in his movements.

“Bruce is going to get the perishables put away, Sam. He knows he’s kind of useless right now because this is a demon thing right, hot stuff?” Natasha walked casually to the end of the library table, far enough away from the hunter replica to be out of reach but close enough to get in a hit of her own. Sam looked up at her and smiled broadly.

“Yep, thanks,” he replied, staring at her, raking his eyes up and down her body. Clint had paused, thinking Nat had lost her mind, but he caught her small shudder when Sam was eyeing her, then saw her hands moving just below the table edge, where Sam wouldn’t be able to see it from where he was sitting. It was ASL and the stunted message he got clued him in to the message waiting on his phone. He pulled out his phone and scanned over the message, schooling his face to not react. He scanned the room, spotting the crossbow, with the silver tipped bolt already locked and loaded. Clint continued his pacing, moving himself closer to the crossbow with each pass and kept up the conversation.

“Hot stuff? Nat, you do know that Dean is missing, right? This is no time to flirt.” He caught Sam’s smirk in his peripheral vision.

“It’s okay, Clint. I don’t mind. Makes me feel good knowing she’s confident enough that we’ll get him back to be able to flirt.” Fake Sam leaned back into the chair while running his hands over his hair. Natasha faked a blush and leaned over the table, giving him an eyeful of her cleavage.

“Now, Sam,” she purred as he leaned forward again, “We need you to find Dean. Any ideas?” Steve had stopped next to the map table and pretended to look at the map, as if it could give them any clues. Inwardly, he was thoroughly cringing at how obvious it was that this wasn’t the real Sam Winchester. How they hadn’t realized until Tony had called him woke him up to how easily one of these things could infiltrate nearly anywhere. 

“There’re some things in storage that could help me.” Fake Sam thought for a moment, then stood up. “Room 7A. That’s where it is. I’ll go get it. You guys wait here.” He turned and headed down the hallway. Natasha signaled Clint and Steve to follow in a moment, then slipped into stealth mode, moving without a sound around the corner behind him. Clint grabbed the crossbow from the wall, giving it a cursory once over to make sure it was functional before he and Steve followed Nat into the hallway, Natasha slipping away towards the bedrooms to retrieve the silver knives for herself and Steve.

*****

The other window Tony had open on his tablet had caught Kevin’s peripheral vision and he gave a longer look over before turning back to the road.

“Dude, is that infrared?” The image appeared to be but he couldn’t tell what it was of. 

“Something like that,” Tony muttered, directing the scanning as he watched. “I am tasking one of my satellites to search the area around the farmer’s market for anything that might seem out of place. Might give us a place to start with the Sam issue, anyway.”

“That’s genius! As Dean would say, awesome!” Tony smiled at Kevin before pointing out the windshield.

“Eyes on the road, Shortstop.”


	3. The Broken Jar

They converged on the door to storage room 7A and stopped to listen, Nat quietly handing over Dean’s silver knife to Steve as she palmed the one she had taken from Sam’s room. They could hear clattering and scraping. The shapeshifter was grumbling to itself in a very nasty mockery of the younger hunter’s voice.

“Where is it? Where did you put it, Winchester? You can’t hide it from me. Awake or not, I’ll dig it out from behind those walls. He better not have lied about this. I’ll make sure you aren’t in enough pieces to turn over if he did.”

The three Avengers passed confused looks between each other, then Steve signaled Natasha to one side of the door, Clint to the other and himself stepping directly in. Fake Sam had just pulled a box off one of the shelves and was pulling off the lid as he whipped his head up to look at Steve. Figuring he was now exposed, he gave an evil smile.

“Captain America, I see you’re sticking your self-righteous nose into places it can be cut off,” the shapeshifter growled. “I’m guessing you didn’t come alone?” Natasha and Clint slid around the door frame to bracket Cap. Clint kept the crossbow hidden behind Cap so fake Sam wouldn’t see the silver tipped bolt.

“Surrender to us and return the man whose identity you are currently wearing,” Steve said, standing at full attention with the Shield he had grabbed from the map room, the silver knife hidden behind it. Fake Sam chuckled and went back to looking through the box. He ignored the Avengers who had moved further into the room, closer to him, as he spied what he was looking for. His hand darted into the box and came out clutching something small enough for his closed fist to hide. His head leaned back, mouth open, as he dropped what looked like an amber stone down his throat, swallowing before looking back at the heroes.

“Sorry about this, Cap,” the shapeshifter crowed, “but I have what I was looking for and now I must be going.” It darted forward, then to the side, careening powerfully off the side of Cap’s shield and bumping one of the shelves, but pushing Steve off balance backwards at the same time. The creature rolled gracefully, slamming against Clint’s legs, knocking him backwards, finally ending up crouched at Natasha’s feet. 

The room was too small and the shifter was too fast and agile in Sam’s long-limbed body that Clint couldn’t get a good shot. Natasha lashed out at the creature, pummeling it with moves that would have put even her best friend onto the ground momentarily, but only made this thing slightly flinch. A slash with the silver knife brought a loud hiss from the creature but it was merely a scratch. She changed tactics and tried to grasp it in a headlock. Fake Sam slid right out of her grip too easily. 

It was Steve’s look of surprise and disgust that made her realize that the creature’s skin had slid off in her arms and the slimy substance was covering her arms and chest. They turned and gave chase as it pounded out of the room and down the hallway. Steve was the fastest with his superspeed and easily caught up with it before it could get all the way across the library. He jumped and drop kicked the creature, bringing the shield down on its head, if only to shake it up. The time for being gentle was over.

He jumped off the creature and got in between it and the bunker exit. As Clint and Natasha rounded the corner into the library, they saw it appearing to shrink as more of its skin sloughed off and fell into a slimy mess around it. Clint leapt up onto the table to get a better angle and took aim with the crossbow.

“Last warning, shapeshifter,” Steve said forcefully. The thing on the floor began to laugh, but it wasn’t a masculine sound at all. 

All three of them flinched as they recognized the sound. The creature began to rise up from the mess on the floor and even covered in the slime and shed skin, they could tell this was Natasha’s face it was wearing. The laugh had been one Steve and Clint had heard only a few times, when their friend and teammate had been interrogating criminals who liked to hurt children. That laugh had broken many evil men in its time. In this instance, though, it was the most chilling sound. Clint shuddered watching the slimy, naked replica of his best friend continue to rise out of the slime and discarded clothing. He saw his real friend give a signal with her hand. It was no effort at all to raise the crossbow, aim, and fire directly into its heart at the same time Nat flung the silver knife, burying it in the creature’s neck.

The laugh choked off as it fell backwards into its mess with a hiss and a gurgling ‘Noooooo’. They stood still, catching their breaths for several minutes before Steve stepped forward to check for a pulse. There wasn’t one but he wasn’t sure if a shapeshifter really would have one. Kevin would be able to shed more light on that. 

As if on cue, the bunker door was thrown open and Tony, followed by Kevin, came in and leaned over the railing at the landing.

“Did you get it?” Tony asked. He saw the slimy mess first, then that the body wasn’t Sam but a naked Natasha. He blinked. “Huh.” He saw the real Natasha standing further back in the library and took note of the slime on her arm and torso. “So, you’re sure you killed the right Natasha, right?” 

Natasha, Clint, and Steve turned and gave him equal bitchfaces. He threw up his hands.

“Just checking.” Tony started down the stairs, tablet in hand. Kevin followed closely, his eyes never leaving the mess in the library.

“Kevin, how can we tell it’s dead?” Steve asked.

“Oh, just like a human. Shapeshifters are just like humans, but with abilities to shed their skin and become someone else. They still need to breathe and have to have a working heart.” Kevin stopped beside Cap, just outside the bloody, slimy area. Steve nodded and they all relaxed. Steve grabbed a throw blanket off one of the chairs, most likely one used by Sam when he was sick from the trials and threw it over the disturbing nakedness.

“So what do we do now?” Natasha growled out. Kevin saw them staring at him and he rolled his eyes.

“We need Sam to find Dean and we need to find Sam first,” he finally shrugged. “If you guys can get the body outside and burn it, I’ll get the buckets to start scooping all this up so I can mop or whatever.” Kevin sighed deeply, as if it were just another task on another day. All the Avengers stared at him as he walked off. Bruce walked past him out of the kitchen.

“I got the all clear from Tony so I guess it went okay,” he said. He saw the mess and the body. He looked at Tasha and looked like he wanted to ask but just closed his mouth as it wasn’t all that pressing at the moment. “Anyone got a lead on Sam or Dean yet?”

Tony was sitting on the bottom step, still staring at the tablet. He was pinching the screen to zoom in and out and then pulling it around more.

“Not on Dean, but I found an odd heat signature in the forest near the farmer’s market where I’m guessing Sam was switched.” 

Clint laid the crossbow down on the table and hopped off to slide next to Nat. He asked her silently if she was okay and she replied with a gesture that she was disgusted and a little miffed but physically fine. He bumped her shoulder and shifted his eyes to the corpse. She rolled her eyes but smiled at him. Seeing herself dead like that was odd but not horrible. Steve laid his slimy shield against the wall and joined Bruce looking down at the tablet in Tony’s hands.

“Can you tell if it’s Sam?” Bruce asked, wringing his hands. It had been an exciting day, and not necessarily in the good way. Tony looked up at him.

“Well, I can’t for absolute certain, but it appears to be a human lying down in a small building that’s within walking distance to the market. There doesn’t appear to be anyone or anything else human-sized close by. But I think it deserves a closer looksee.” 

Steve nodded.

“Go ahead and fly there as Iron Man; it’ll be the fastest way. If Sam needs medical attention, Bruce will be here and ready.” Tony stood up and clicked a button on a bracelet on his wrist. There was a sound from down the hallway and the Iron Man suit, piloted by Jarvis, stepped into the room before opening for Tony to step inside. As it closed again Iron Man was out the door and on his way. Bruce headed up the stairs to close the bunker door behind him. Steve turned to the agents.

“Natasha, go get cleaned up. Clint and I are going to burn the corpse and help Kevin clean up the mess. Then we’ll get cleaned up and get the groceries inside. Until we hear back from Tony, we’ll assume it’s Sam and continue to get everything back to normal so we can then focus on finding Dean once they return.” 

Natasha shuddered and headed for the showers. Clint made a face of disgust but moved with Steve to lift the corpse and heave it up the stairs to get it outside. Kevin made it back to the room just in time to see them exit the bunker door. He sat two buckets on the ground and began using the flat shovel to lift up the shed skin and slime into the buckets. 

*****

Iron Man flew just above the treetops, his head panning left and right as the heat signature was pinpointed on the inside of his face plate. Once it was in sight, he dropped down through a break in the trees and landed just outside a rundown wooden shack, so weathered and overgrown that a person walking by it might miss it if they weren’t looking for it. He stepped out of the suit right outside the door, leaving Jarvis on sentry mode in case something attacked. He cleared a few dead branches from the doorway that had been placed there as cover, then shoved the door open.

“Sam?” he called into the darkness. It was a single room, but with the windows thickly coated with layers upon layers of dust and cobwebs, it wasn’t easy to make out anything right away. Then one of the lower shadows moved and he heard a muffled moan. “Jarvis, bring the suit closer and aim a light into the door, please.” The suit complied and stopped just short of blocking the door but provided the much-needed illumination. 

And there, on his side, bound with his hands behind him and his feet together, a dirty rag as a gag in his mouth, lay an unconscious Sam Winchester. Tony dropped to his knee beside him. He tapped Sam’s cheek, watching as the eyelids fluttered open. The young man grimaced at the bright light and turned his head away, groaning lightly. 

“Well, hello again,” Tony started, as he pulled the gag from Sam’s mouth. His mouth turned down deeply at the state of the dirty rag that had been his gag. Sam coughed and retched a little, not vomiting but it was a close thing. Tony spotted the blood on his hair and forehead immediately. He felt over the man’s scalp, detecting the new lump under the blood, but not finding any other injuries besides minor bruising and scraping he had spotted when he untied his wrists and ankles.

“Let’s get you out of here.” Tony gently helped Sam sit up, looking into the glassy eyes of the young man. “Once I get you outside, we’ll get a better look, okay Sam?” The hunter nodded slowly, bringing his hand up to the tender spot and wincing. “Yeah, I’m assuming it’s a concussion, but Bruce can confirm it once we’re back at the bunker.” He helped Sam stand as he was shaky on his feet.

“Did you get him?” Sam slurred with a croaky voice. The time with a dry, dusty rag shoved in his mouth had left him very hoarse.

“We certainly did,” Tony said airily. “Well, Legolas and Widow did. With the silver tipped crossbow bolt and silver knife in the library. Not the best game of Clue we’ve played, but definitely the messiest.” Sam gave a half laugh.

“Got him mid-change, huh?” Sam wobbled out of the shack and sat down on a log with the other man supporting him all the way. 

“Yeah, Natasha probably wasn’t all that happy to see herself die.” Tony sat on his heels by Sam to provide support as he kept listing to the side. The Iron Man suit had moved back from the shack and was now pivoting, sentry mode still active. Sam grimaced hearing that about the red-headed assassin. “Kevin, Clint, and Steve are now cleaning up the remains. I can’t promise it’ll be done by the time we get back, but we have other, perhaps more pressing issues.” Sam sat up straight and suddenly focused.

“Did the shapeshifter get it?” He asked, eyes wide and concerned.

“Get what?” Tony looked confused.

“The power stone,” Sam said, standing up quickly. He almost fell right over, but Tony caught him and held him up. “Tell them to check the body for an amber stone before they burn it. Tell them not to touch the stone themselves without a metal glove of some kind. There’s a suit of armor in the library that we used the steel gauntlet from to move it last time.” Tony dialed Steve immediately. Not for the first time today, he wished they had grabbed the comms instead.

Sam listened intently to the hurried conversation between Steve and Tony. All the info was relayed and then Steve confirmed something had been grabbed from room 7A, then again confirmed when he used the gauntlet to pull the stone from the dead shapeshifter’s gullet, where Clint had dug it out while gagging. Sam relaxed visibly. 

“Tell Steve to leave the stone in the gauntlet and take it off in the dungeon, on the chair in the middle of the sigil on the floor. It’ll be the easiest way to keep it and everyone else safe until me or Dean can get there to lock it up again.” Sam leaned against the shack and then flinched as something surfaced in his mind. “Wait, wasn’t Clint with Dean? Dean would know what to do with it.” He looked at the millionaire, who finished his message to Steve with the note that they would be heading back to the bunker very shortly. 

“Well, when I said there are other pressing matters,” Tony started, “what I meant was that there’s still a Uhaul truck full of supplies to put away and Dean is also missing. We think something got him.” 


	4. A Spell a Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam returns to the bunker and the Avengers get to see their first spell casting.

Bruce was waiting with Natasha outside the bunker entrance when Tony landed, the suit’s arms around Sam’s waist as they put their feet down. Sam was already making the guttural retching noises that always precedes vomiting, and that had the billionaire stepping back, arms up, as Sam stumbled away towards the bushes and fell to his hands and knees. Natasha and Bruce rushed to his side, Natasha holding his hair up out of his face while he emptied his stomach. Bruce shook his head at Tony, who raised his faceplate.

“Do you know how hard it is to get blood, much less vomit out of the crevices on this suit?” Tony quickly froze as Natasha turned her head to glare at him, a promise of violence in her green gaze. 

“Unless Tony was deliberately flying like a maniac or you’ve hidden motion sickness from us, I’d say this is a symptom of a concussion.” Bruce held one of Sam’s wrists loosely in his hand as he checked his pulse. 

“Lump, right side, just back from the forehead,” Tony said pointing from where he stood several yards away, grimacing at the vomit on the ground. “Follow the blood. At the shack it was glassy eyes, unsteadiness, slurred speech.”

“Yep, another concussion on top of the last one,” Bruce tsked as Sam groaned and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Let’s get you inside.” 

Natasha wrapped her arm around the taller man’s waist and pulled his arm around her neck and shoulders. She pulled him off the ground with surprising strength and steadiness as he swayed, putting his arm up against a tree trunk to stop the world from spinning. Bruce kicked some dirt over the vomit and gently led them down into the bunker, his arm holding onto the arm Natasha didn’t have draped over her. Tony followed in the suit.

They were stepping down from the stairs when Steve and Clint passed the open doorway that led into the library. Both of them had their arms full of boxes and bags and were working quietly for the moment. Clint was the first to spot them and he spun on the ball of his foot on the very next step, which changed his direction suddenly, startling Steve, who stopped and backed up. Clint hurriedly put down his load on the floor against one of the library shelves and jogged over to help with Sam.

Bruce stepped out of the way to allow the assassin room to be the hunter’s support. Clint slid his arm around Sam’s mid-back, above Natasha’s arm and pulled the other arm across his shoulders. Natasha gave him a quick grateful glance as Sam groaned gently.

“Come on, Winchester,” Clint encouraged the shaky man. “We got ya. Few more steps.” By the time they reached the bottom, Steve had also deposited his load along the library wall and had come over to see what he could do to help. Tony stepped out of the suit, directing it to store itself in the telescope alcove.

“Let’s get him into the infirmary,” Bruce said, grabbing his medical bag off the library table and starting towards the hallway. 

“No!” Clint and Natasha glanced at each other in astonishment at how suddenly Sam yanked backwards to stop them from moving him from the room. “You said Dean is missing.” He shook his hair out of his eyes and forced himself to stand up straight, pulling his wrists out of the assassins’ grasps, but leaving them on their shoulders for stability. His words were slightly slurred but strengthened as he continued. “I’m not going anywhere until we get him back.” 

Everyone looked to Steve who eyed Sam critically for a moment, taking in his not quite focused eyes, the sway even with Clint and Tasha supporting him on each side. He then turned to Bruce with a raised eyebrow.

“Doctor,” he said, “It’s your call.” Bruce sighed and rolled his eyes.

“Fine. Sit him down at the table.” Bruce pulled out a chair for them to lower him into. “At least the light in here is good enough to check his responses and we’ll be here to catch him if he falls over. And Sam, no interrupting until I’m done with the exam.” Once the injured man was seated, his head held up through sheer will, Clint stepped back and fell in beside Tony, who was looking around in astonishment.

“This place is amazingly clean to have been the center of an assassin look-alike slime explosion.” Tony was impressed. Clint smirked, glancing around.

“Yeah, that Kevin is super efficient. We hadn’t even gotten the body set on fire yet (and that’s something I never, ever want to have to do again) and he was done getting all this part done. Kid is like some sort of super housekeeper or something.” Tony scoffed, as he watched Bruce checking Sam’s pupils, reaction times, and responses to basic questions. 

Kevin poked his head around the door, spotting his missing helpers. He huffed and came into the room, gesturing at the bags and boxes on the floor.

“Guys! These things don’t put themselves away, you know?” He stopped when he realized Sam was seated at the table with Bruce examining him. “Sam! You okay, man?” Steve smiled softly at the kid, seeing how quickly his priorities shifted when Sam was in the room.

“Yeah, I’m good.” Sam’s words had no hint of slur, but he still croaked a little and coughed to clear his throat. “Just worried about Dean.” He tried to get up, but Steve put a hand on his shoulder to keep him in the chair as Bruce hummed through the exam.

“No offense, but you look like you’re about to pass out,” Kevin said, flopping into one of the other chairs. Bruce clicked his tongue. 

“Sam, do you have any ringing in your ears or a headache?” When the hunter looked at him with a slow blink, Bruce sighed and plowed ahead. “Yeah, the headache is probably a given considering, but what about ringing in your ears?”

“Yes, on the headache, but not bad. No to the ringing.” Sam ran his hand over his hair and winced as he brushed the tender spot on accident.

“What do you call ‘not bad’?” Bruce perched on the edge of the table and played with his glasses. Sam shrugged.

“Less than the splitting migraines I used to get from the psychic visions, more than bumping my head on a low doorway.” Clint and Tony hid soft laughs at the last part. Steve and Natasha turned and gave them the ‘look’, for different reasons. They settled down instantly. 

“So, anywhere from ‘my brain is trying to implode’ to ‘meh’ then?” Bruce replied sarcastically. Sam shrugged again. “You really need to lay down and rest-,” he held up a hand to stop Sam’s outburst before he could do more than open his mouth, “-but I know you won’t until we find Dean. So, how much did Tony tell you already?”

By the time they collaborated on all the versions from all parties, Sam was quiet and thoughtful. He wanted to get up and pace to think but he knew that he couldn’t do that without falling over on his face. They patiently waited for him to say something.

“Okay, so the sulfur smell probably means demons, but we need more information first. I think I can get it from the bar Clint brought back.” He sat up and started to stand so he could grab a book. Once again Steve used his hand to keep him in the seat.

“Let us get you what you need.” Sam nodded slowly.

“Kevin, can you hand me that red, leather-bound book on the far right shelf, third shelf down, 5th book from the left?” Sam pointed and Kevin jumped up to grab it. Several of the Avengers shared a look of interest.

Sam took the book and flipped through it before pushing it away. 

“Wrong one.” He turned his head and scanned at the shelves behind him. Then he pointed again. “That red one, far left shelf, 2nd from the top, 10th, no 11th from the left.” Kevin brought it over. Sam flipped open the book and scanned the pages, before stopping on one page. “Here it is. Thanks Kev.” 

“What is it?” Steve asked. Sam looked up and around at the six other people in the room as if he’d forgotten that they were there.

“Uh, it’s a spell,” Sam said slowly. “It’s pretty basic really. I can use it on that bar from the hardware store to see who it was that grabbed Dean.” Clint jogged out of the room to go get the bar. 

“Have you ever done this spell before?” Steve asked. Sam sighed.

“Not this one, no, but most of these books and all of the cross references and notes say this is the safest and most basic way to reveal the last 24 hours attached to an item.” Sam shrugged. “Never thought about having to use it, really.” Natasha came forward and looked down at the book, recognizing the language. She leaned over Sam’s shoulder as she read the page, feeling him clearing his throat as her chest pressed to his back. 

“It’s Romanian.” Sam’s eyebrows went up and he turned his head to take in her profile. “It’s what he says it is. Just says it’s a ‘show me’ kind of thing. None of the ingredients are dangerous on their own. The notes on the side are in a symbol language I don’t recognize, but the spell itself is pretty straightforward.” She shrugged and leaned back, away from Sam, who audibly swallowed. 

“Fine,” Steve stated flatly after a moment of quiet. “Natasha and I will be right beside you when you do this spell, but everyone else must be moved far enough away to not get caught if there’s a dangerous reaction.” Kevin looked at Sam.

“Are you sure about this, Sam?” Kevin asked with concern.

“What else can I do?” Sam replied with a sigh. “Kev, can you get these for me?” Sam pointed out the ingredients and the prophet, followed by Natasha, headed to the component cabinet in the next room. Clint had come back into the room with the pry bar and laid it on the table in front of Sam. “Thank you.” Clint nodded before moving over to the side.

A minute later, the kid and Natasha returned, Kevin carrying a brass bowl that held some herbs and liquids in bottles and packages. Sam thanked them and stood up slowly. He swayed for a moment, causing Steve to grab his arm to steady him. Bruce put his hand out onto his back for the same purpose. The youngest Winchester laid the bowl next to the bar and began to measure out the ingredients.

Clint pulled Kevin’s arm gently to make him step back behind him. Their eyes focused on Sam. Tony and Bruce moved over beside them while Steve and Natasha moved to either side of Sam.

When all the ingredients were measured out except the last one, a red dust that he held in his palm, Sam took a deep breath and looked around.

“Okay, I hope this works.” He spoke the Romanian spell smoothly, his voice strong but low, no slurring heard. His fingers sprinkled the red dust into the bowl. He swirled the bowl, then reached in to pull out a pinch of the mixture. As the last words left his mouth, he tossed the mixture onto the bar, which immediately glowed bright red, as though being heated on a forge.

Everyone looked on in amazement as a tendril of vapor rose from the sword and swirled in the air above it. The vapor coalesced into a cloud, about the size of Cap’s shield. Steve took a half step back, but Natasha stood steady, glancing between Sam’s face and the cloud. Sam was looking intently into the cloud.

The center of the cloud darkened and began to shift, moving around. As it darkened further, the shifting became hints of real images and the center of the cloud displayed the library and themselves in real time. All of them except Sam leaned in to watch the scene unfold in confusion. 

Sam raised his arms, leaning his thighs against the table to keep himself steady. He touched each side of the circular cloud and began to spin it clockwise slowly, like turning the steering wheel in a large 16-wheeler. The scene shifted and became hazy. Sam frowned and spun it back in the other direction. This time it was like watching a movie on rewind. They watched the scenery change from the library to traveling down the hallway with Clint to the floorboard of the black Chrysler Imperial in the garage. Sam continued to spin it counterclockwise and it slid back further and further.

Natasha caught the sway as the visual stimulus of the rewind was making the man dizzy again. She put one hand on his back and put the other in front of his eyes.

“Close your eyes,” she said before he could protest or move his head around her hand. “I’ll be your eyes and tell you when to stop or go the other way.” He looked down at her and nodded as he swallowed back the nausea. He closed his eyes and let her hand and voice guide him. She smiled gently at his trust and then moved her gaze back to the spell cloud. 

The scene continued to rewind until it went from the Chrysler and back into the store. When Clint’s image picked up the bar in reverse, Natasha told Sam to stop. He stilled instantly. The scene froze on the archer’s appearance around the corner of the aisle. 

“Okay, keep going, but slowly.” Natasha watched as the scene reversed more, the movements of the people in it much slower. The aisle that had been empty before, now suddenly burst with fullness as Dean, flanked by two unknown men, and another very recognizable figure, popped into existence with no warning. “Stop!” She dropped the hand from in front of his eyes.

“Crowley,” Kevin moaned. Sam’s eyes flew open and sure enough, there was Crowley, standing just as dapper as ever, hands in his pockets, smug grin, as two demons held a slumped Dean between then. Sam spun the cloud just a little more, but slowly, until Dean popped upright after one of the demons dropped the bar and Crowley popped out of existence as the two demons let go of his brother and went back to looking nonchalant as regular customers without black eyes. Dean had backed away around the corner, so Sam stopped the rewind and released it, letting it play forward at normal speed.

Dean came around the end of aisle with his eyes scanning the shelves. He was almost past two customers when they turned quickly and grabbed his arms, their eyes going black. Dean stiffened for a split second and then jerked when Crowley popped in directly in front of him. There was no sound on the cloud image, but again Clint picked up the words on their lips.

“Crowley,” Clint said as Dean’s mouth curved into a smirk. “Hello, Squirrel.” Crowley appeared to be smiling himself. “Not sure what you think you’re doing-,” Dean shook his head. Crowley held up a hand. “Taking my due. Your new friends will be busy with the shifter I sent after Moose.” Then, before Dean could respond around his new scowl or make any move, one of the demons brought the pry bar down on his head, holding him up as he slumped between then. He dropped the bar on the floor. “Who’s the bitch now?” Clint translated as Crowley laughed and then they all poofed out of existence. Clint’s face appeared seconds later.

Sam removed his hands from the spell cloud and it dissipated. He looked around, leaning tiredly on the table, trembling slightly. There was a short silence, then Sam gracelessly fell backwards towards the chair. Steve and Natasha jerked from their daze and caught him, preventing him from hitting the floor, helping him into the chair before it could roll backwards. They both saw he was sweating profusely with the effort to stay vertical. Kevin darted in between then and dropped to his knees beside his friend.

“Sam, what do you need?” the Asian boy laid his hand on the hunter’s. 

“Water,” he rasped, and Kevin was off and running for water from the kitchen. Bruce slid into his place to lift Sam’s wrist to check his pulse again.

“Sam, that was amazing,” Steve said coming to stand more in Sam’s line of sight so he wouldn’t have to turn. 

“Amazing?” Tony gasped. “What the fuck? That was an ‘easy’ spell? Rewinding a view of the past of an item? Law enforcement would be transformed!” Kevin was jogging back with two water bottles in his hands when he heard Tony’s last sentence.

“No, it wasn’t ‘easy’. It was ‘basic’.” Kevin shook his head as he opened the first water bottle before handing it to his friend. Sam eagerly took it in his shaking hands and began gulping it. “All magic has a price. Many spells call for you to add your own blood as an ingredient. Others require rare or magical ingredients. This one used Sam’s own energy. I’m surprised that with the concussion he didn’t already pass out.”

“Do you always know before you cast a spell?” Bruce asked. Sam shook his head.

“Not always.” Kevin shrugged. Sam had finished the first bottle. “Sometimes the spellbook page will have a notation, especially if it had been cast by the previous book owner. Mostly, there’s no hint, unless the ingredient is your own blood or something like a griffin feather, which is inherently magical. This one did say that the caster’s energy would be called on. The notes Natasha couldn’t read were in a code created by the Men of Letters.” Sam nodded tiredly, reaching for the second opened water bottle that Kevin held out to him. 

Natasha put her hand on Sam’s arm. His head was beginning to droop. The water bottle slipped from his fingers, but Natasha’s quick reflexes caught it before it could spill and sat it on the table still within his reach, but far enough away he shouldn’t accidently knock it over. Kevin reached over to close the book and pull it away from in front of the now sleeping hunter. 

“The spell used his physical energy?” Bruce was looking at him in curiosity. 

Kevin started to go put the book away but stopped and spun on his toes, biting his bottom lip. They watched him raise one finger up.

“Just a head’s up, though. For the next step, whatever he comes up with, on how to find Dean, remember that he’s stubborn as hell and there’s no way you’re going to talk him out helping his brother, especially if he’s certain will work. No matter what it does to him, he won’t back down if he thinks it’s the only way.” The Avengers exchanged concerned looks. “And if you straight out deny him, he’ll find a way to sneak away and do it anyway, by himself, without help. Just keep that in mind.” 

With that, Kevin replaced the book and returned to Sam’s side just as he woke up with a flinch, blinking furiously. 

“Sam,” Steve said, leaning on the table. “You need to rest. We know who has him now but it would be really bad for you to pass out while we’re trying to rescue him. And we still don’t know where he is.” Bruce gave him a worried look.

“I agree. You need to rest.” Sam took a few shuddering breaths.

“He may not have time for me to rest.” Sam nearly whispered. Before any of them could protest, Sam pulled himself up straighter and cleared his throat to speak clearer and louder. “There’s a blood sigil that can take us right to him. I can give you guys the ability to fight off the demons to bring him back. I don’t even have to go.” Kevin sighed before turning to them.

“He’s right. We need to do this sooner rather than later.” They all looked at each other. Bruce was the first to speak.

“If you don’t lay down and rest, it could lead to seizures and your brother would be very unforgiving with us if you died before he could return.” Sam scoffed.

“And if he dies before we can get to him?”

“Fine,” Bruce threw his hands up. “But you have to agree to 24 hours on bedrest once we’re done.”

“I’ll stay in bed for a month after we get Dean back here safe and sound if you tell me to, but I won’t rest until then.” Sam agreed quickly.

“We could really use Thor and Castiel,” Steve sighed. 

“Is there any way to contact Thor when he’s on Asgard?” Sam asked. “Being a god, does he hear prayers or whatever?” 

“Heimdal,” Bruce and Tony said at the same time. Sam tilted his head in thought.

“Watchman of the Norse gods?” Clint snorted, remembering how Dean had regaled him with tales of his ‘nerdy’ brother on their trip to the hardware store. Natasha backhanded his stomach gently.

“Yeah. He’s the one who lets Thor know when he’s needed on Earth.” Tony shrugged. “Bruce, you call him. He likes you better anyway.” Bruce scowled at Tony.

Before Bruce could even take a breath to begin the vocal call out to Heimdal, the door to the bunker clanged open. An arrow and a dagger both bounced off the metal head of Mjolnir as Thor raised it to deflect them away from embedding themselves in the very human Castiel, who had stepped through the open door first. Castiel gasped and froze. 

“Hold, friends!” Thor boomed. He came around Cas’ side. Everyone breathed in relief and lowered their weapons. Sam was half risen from the chair, Kevin by his side, his hand on Sam’s arm. The hunter sank back down.

Thor and Cas pushed the door closed behind them and came down to join the rest of the Avengers and Team Free Will, minus Dean.

“Great timing,” Tony chortled. “We were just getting ready to call you.” 

“Heimdal alerted us of the request by Captain Rogers,” Thor smiled. Tony blinked.

“But that was only like 30 seconds ago.” Thor only smiled broader.

Cas came down to Kevin and hugged him strongly before moving over to put a hand on Sam’s shoulder. Sam moved his hand up to cover his fingers.

“So, any help on the return of the angels to Heaven?” Kevin asked their fallen friend.

“Possibly, but we’re here to assist in rescuing Dean for now.” Cas squatted next to Sam. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here to help protect you from the shapeshifter, Sam.” His friend patted his hand and shook his head, too tired to really do any more.

“So, I guess we should get started,” Steve stated, gesturing for everyone to gather around the library table to discuss the rescue plan.


	5. Not Without My Brother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And Dean's rescue

The first part was the blood sigil from Sam. He wrote down the ingredients for Cas and Kevin to retrieve for him, in twice the amount of ingredients so it could be done for the trip there and the trip back. 

“Sam-,” Cas started, his face concerned, but Sam cut him off.

“Dean may not have time to debate this, Cas. It has to be done.” Sam gave Cas a pointed look and he backed down. Bruce and Steve watched the interaction but said nothing.

Next was the explanation that the blood sigil that would be drawn on a closed door and the incantation had to be said by the blood originator. When the door was opened, it would open onto the room where the closest adult blood relative of Sam Winchester would be, thus leading directly to Dean as the only living adult blood relative of Sam. He explained that while they wouldn’t know where it would open to, like a closet or a stadium, they would need to be prepared for anything. And Dean would have to be alive and awake for them to be able to return, as he would have to use his blood and he’d have to speak the incantation to activate it for the return trip.

Then Sam and Cas outlined the best ways to defend against and defeat demons, including the salt rounds in the shotguns and holy-water water guns. The Avengers decided that Bruce would remain at the bunker with Sam and Kevin, while Cas would join the rest of them in the rescue. Cas, as a human, would remain in the middle of the group and offer experience and advice as they fought, helping Dean with the ingredients and painting the sigil so the rest could fight and defend as needed.

The team geared up with the Winchesters demon weapons, including Natasha taking the Demon Blade and Cas holding onto his Angel Blade for self defense. Thor, Steve, and Tony dosed their melee weapons in salted holy water, as did Clint his arrow tips and Natasha her other blades. When Sam handed the last item to Tony, it only took a brief phrase to make Tony smile and nod, patting Sam’s shoulder.

Bruce stood over Sam as he blended the ingredients into two batches, one in each of two stoppered bottles. When he asked the hunter what was going into the spell, Sam named each item as it was ground up and dropped into the bottle.

“Tears of a dragon and a dried angel feather, along with my blood. It usually requires a pinch of the sands of time but since we’re trying to get to Dean now and not in the past or the future, the lore suggests that the sands aren’t needed.” Bruce eyed him and the mixture with skepticism. “Dean will need to add his blood once you have him. I’ll add my blood to the one on this side right before we draw the sigil so it’s fresh. Gives me a chance to rest before.” Sam smiled at the scientist, who made a pinched face but just nodded. Sam also drew the sigil on a piece of paper along with the phonetic pronunciation of the incantation for Dean.

Once both bottles were ready, Cas had the paper with the drawing and incantation, and the rescue team was ready, Sam stood unsteadily but on his own power. They had decided the door to the infirmary, from the inside would be perfect so if Dean needed medical help, he’d be in the right place instantly upon his return. They all stood on either side of Sam, ready to race through the door as soon as the sigil was active.

Sam had Kevin hold the bottle as he sliced his palm and dripped it into the bottle. Kevin stoppered it and swirled it around to mix it. Then he opened it and Sam dipped his finger into the liquid, drawing out enough to draw the sigil on the closed door. As soon as it was finished, he began the incantation, intoning the oddly guttural words a few times before the bright red sigil began to glow. Sam gasped and fell backwards into Bruce’s chest, trying to pretend as if he’d tripped while getting out of the way, but Cas and Kevin had been expecting this and watched as his eyelids fluttered before he strengthened his resolve and stood a little firmer on his own two feet. 

Steve grabbed the doorknob and threw it open, not faltering a step as he walked across the threshold, not into the war room, where the door normally led, but into a dark room. Sam, Bruce, and Kevin didn’t see where they ended up but they all tensed when the door closed with a thud behind Thor, who had been in the rear of the charge. The prophet and Bruce exchanged glances and then both looked at the tall, pale man who stood between them, blinking slowly, rigid as an oak trunk. He was quiet and was breathing oddly, as though he were deliberately counting the time for the breath in and then again on the breath out, to maintain control. The others stayed by his side where they could grab him if needed but turned their attention back to the door as they waited for it to open from the other side.

It had been agreed that if they had not returned within 30 minutes, then Bruce would alert Fury and the lesser guns would be called out to rescue them, the bigger guns.

*****

One the other side of the magicked door, the room the Avengers stepped into appeared to be a disused warehouse or industrial basement. In a pool of light 100 or so feet away from the door, a dozen people crowded around something in the center of the pool. They were all shifting and grunting in pleasure, as if at a cockfight or some other dark event. Two voices rose above the grunting crowd. One was the smug British accent of the King of Hell as he taunted and mocked the other voice, who was obviously their target: Dean.

None of them could make out the words being said, but it didn’t take long before the people turned to look at the sound of the door closing and more feet coming at them. All of their eyes were black and their faces were all twisted in anger or sneers as they began to run towards the intruders. 

The superheroes ran forward into the fray, bashing, blasting, or slashing the demons. As Clint, having immediately taken to the rafters above them, shot arrows aiming to incapacitate the demons, everyone else worked to plow through and get to Dean. 

“Well, Squirrel,” Crowley sneered at the hunter chained to the steel chair in front of him, “Looks like I’ll get to add some heroes to my resume soon. Without your giant of a brother there to help them, they have no idea what they just walked into.” 

Dean opened his bleeding mouth to give a smart retort but smiled and laughed instead as he heard his brother’s voice rise above the sounds of battle. It was a recording of the demon-banishing exorcism in Sam’s perfect latin being blasted from the Iron Man suits built in speakers.

Crowley jerked his head around towards the sound as his demon minions began to scream as they tried to smoke out of the bodies. A few made it out of a side door but most were stuck as they fought against the inevitable.

“Bollocks,” he growled as the snapped his fingers and disappeared.

The rest of the demons twitched and screamed before being exorcised from their victims’ vessels. The battle was over quickly as the exorcism ended and only the superheroes remained standing. Sadly, all of the remaining humans were dead, as ascertained by Steve as he stopped to check all seven bodies. It appeared they all had wounds that were not survivable.

While Clint and Cas ran over to free Dean, Natasha had Tony help her determine the gps coordinates of where they were and then alerted SHIELD so they could come and clean up the mess left behind. She also left a message for Director Fury that she’d file a full report as soon as everyone was safe. Thor and Tony surveilled the area to make sure they were truly out of danger.

“Dean, are you okay?” Cas asked as he and Clint tried to undo his restraints. He looked over the green-eyed man and was pleased that he looked relatively uninjured. Dean smiled up at the former angel and then looked around, searching for his brother. Clint was trying to pick the locks on the chains as he figured out who the hunter was looking for.

“Sam’s not here. Bruce said he wasn’t going to let Sam risk being hurt any more than he already was.” Dean frowned deeply and struggled to pull against the chains, dislodging Clint’s lockpicking efforts.

“That damn shapeshifter hurt him?” he growled. Cas glared at Clint, who shrugged apologetically.

“Just a concussion,” Cas assured him, calming the older brother but only barely.

“Just knocked him out and tied him up,” Tony said, coming across to them. “And even with a concussion, he still organized and outfitted this rescue. Move back, Legolas.” Clint yelped as a concentrated beam shot from Iron Man’s glove and split the lock. He fell back on his rear and growled.

“Damn it, Iron Ass.” Dean snorted as Tony yanked the chains off him easily now before he reached down and pulled Clint back to his feet.

“Sam gave me the exorcism recording since he couldn’t come himself. Said he was embarrassed he hadn’t thought of it before. He continues to astound me,” Tony said, holding Dean steady as they headed back towards the door from whence they had come. Dean stumbled but smiled fondly.

“You and me both.” Steve stepped up to one side of Dean, as Thor stepped to the other, both holding him up and steady as the team gathered at the door.

Cas pulled out the stoppered bottle and held it out to his friend, who gave it and Cas a confused look.

“Blood to blood sigil, like Henry used to find you,” Cas said, offering up his angel blade. Dean nodded as he understood and held up his hand for Cas to slice. The blood dropped into he bottle and Cas swirled it as Kevin had for Sam. Then Cas held up the opened bottle in one hand and the paper with the sigil and the incantation in the other, with the angel blade handed off to Nat. 

Dean rolled his eyes seeing the phonetics but knew reading Enochian was beyond him, so appreciated his brother’s foresight.

“Kah-nee-lah Poo-goh,” he said as he drew the sigil to match Sam’s drawing. The red sigil began to glow and Dean grunted as he felt as though he were punched in the chest. This time, there was no hesitation as Cas grabbed the door and threw it open.

*****

Twenty-seven minutes and 32 seconds later, by Sam’s measured count, the door glowed around the edges and then was flung open, revealing the rescue team, with the addition of their target slung between Steve and Thor. They ran inside the infirmary, dragging a stumbling Dean over to the nearest bed and depositing him there. Natasha and Clint were the last through the door. Nat slammed the door behind them and used the Demon Blade to scrape the sigil apart, closing off the spell that had connected the doors to each other.

Throughout the dramatic return of the rescue team, Sam and Kevin had stood barely moving, letting them into the space and staying out of their way. Bruce was already by Dean’s side, checking for injuries. He had glanced at the others and found nothing of outright concern but would get to them all soon enough. All of them appeared to be in good shape, some breathing harder than normal, but when they broke into incredulous, nervous laughter at the rescue and escape, something released in the room. 

“Dean? Can you tell me anything that they did to you beside the head injury that we’re aware of?” Bruce was in full doctor mode, running his eyes and hands over the green-eyed hunter, looking for cuts, bruises, lumps, or abrasions. There was the obvious blood in his hairline and a few new bruises on his face that appeared to be from fists, but he looked and reacted well. 

Dean shook off the doctor with assurances that he wasn’t really hurt and stood up, looking around the room anxiously. He spotted Sam halfway across the room and took a few shaky steps towards him. Sam smiled so big his dimples appeared fleetingly. He didn’t move to intercept his brother but let him come to him instead.

“Sam!” Dean threw himself at his brother, wrapping his arms around him for a tight hug, voice tight with relief. “That bastard tried to get me to believe you were dead. That his shapeshifter pet had killed you.” 

“Dean.” Sam’s voice was much softer, barely a whisper, as he returned his older brother’s hug, chin on his shoulder. So much had happened lately that his nerves were raw. He began to tremble as the adrenaline drained away. He swayed in exhaustion, trying fiercely to hold himself up. 

“Whoa, whoa there, little brother,” Dean shifted his feet to brace himself before the taller man could topple them both. Everyone in the room turned in surprise. Kevin, who was closest, slid the nearest chair quickly behind Sam’s knees and Dean was able to let him drop back into it. 

Bruce, who had been assured that no one had any injuries besides the splinter Clint had gotten when he’d thrown himself back against a broken wooden beam, raced over. Dean was kneeling beside the chair, his hand on his brother’s chest, holding him steady. Cas and Kevin hovered nearby, within grabbing reach if needed. Bruce heard the shaky breaths and felt the racing pulse. 

“Sam?” Bruce asked, looking at Sam’s eyes, seeing them becoming more and more unfocused, glassier. He saw how the dark shadows underneath them were more pronounced.

“Just...really…fucking…tired,” Sam managed between breaths. His eyelids fluttered as the fought to keep them open. He focused on Bruce for a second. “A month, huh?” Bruce huffed gentle laughter.

“24 hours at least, Sam. Time for bed.” Dean gave him a concerned look, but Kevin was there to explain as Sam’s eyelids fell and stayed down.

“Sam did two energy-based spells, Dean. Plural. The first was to find out who took you.” Dean eased back as Thor came over and lifted the already unconscious Sam from the chair onto the infirmary bed. “It drained his physical energy.” Dean shook his head sadly.

“The second was the same as the blood sigil he sent for me to get us home, wasn’t it?” When Kevin nodded at him, he cursed under his breath. “I felt that pull from my soul. What was he thinking?” He ran his hand over his hair and stood by the head of the bed as Bruce and Tony, now sans the Iron Man suit, were hooking up Sam to an IV and some portable equipment they had brought with them. 

“That he was the only one who could work the magic to get to you,” Cas responded. “And he had no way of knowing what Crowley might be doing to you in recompense for what he did to Crowley.” Dean sighed deeply.

“Damn kid’s gonna give me gray hair.” He brushed back Sam’s soft hair gently. Steve came closer to watch the science bros once again working on settling the giant of a man into a hospital bed.

“Bruce?” He asked as he laid the shield in the seat where Sam had sat shortly before.

“Did you say that spell pulled from your soul?” The doctor asked Dean while thumbing through the readouts. Kevin was at the foot of the bed, pulling Sam’s shoes off, getting him more comfortable.

“Yes, the human soul is very powerful.” Cas responded as his friend leaned against the bed, still brushing back Sam’s hair. “It can be used to power spells and other magic. The blood sigil uses soul power, which was a further drain to Sam, but he omitted that part before, didn’t he?” When the others didn’t respond, he went on. “Human souls are immutable and cannot be completely destroyed. Sam’s soul was severely damaged during his time in Hell with Lucifer, but it’s still one of the brightest I’ve ever seen, even if tattered and torn.” Dean tensed and leaned in towards his brother more. “I believe that this use for the blood sigil to rescue Dean only drained the power and did no further damage. If I were still an angel, I could touch his soul and confirm that. It will just take time and rest for it to recharge.”

By now, they were all staring between him and the sleeping sasquatch. Bruce finally shook off the wonder and reported out the vitals.

“Cas is right. Sam is okay, just suffering from extreme exhaustion.” Sighs were heard around the room. “I asked for 24 hours of bedrest, but he might just need the whole month he promised to take once you were rescued. I’d expect him to be unconscious for at least the next eight to twelve hours, so I suggest everyone else clean up, eat, and rest too.” 

With that, Dean dropped into a nearby chair to let Bruce finish checking out his bruises. The rest of the team of superheroes, as well as Cas and Kevin, headed out to do just that, including putting away the rest of the supplies and someone would have to return the Uhaul.

Tony and Steve stopped outside the infirmary door and looked at the brothers in awe

“He still cast the spells knowing what it could do to him?” Tony asked Kevin as he passed them. Kevin nodded gravely as he picked up the empty water bottle to dispose of.

“Sam would never refuse to do the spell, no matter the cost, especially knowing it could save his brother. He and Dean are always sacrificing themselves for each other, for all of us, all of humanity really, having gone to Hell to stop the first Apocalypse. Not sure how much of their past they told you…” Kevin sighed. He saw the men’s faces and understood that they had obviously shared a lot of their history. He nodded. 

“Sam’s the peacemaker, the one most likely to offer himself up. He’s got it in his head his life is worth nothing compared to everyone else’s. And well, Dean’s an ass a lot of the time, but when it comes to Sam, he’ll jump on the chopping block just as fast. He’s gotten less grumpy lately though. I think Sam taking on the Trials and getting sick really made him into a mother hen. But do not tell Dean I said that. He would cut my ‘nads off.” Kevin turned to walk away, hearing Tony chuckle as Steve’s mouth dropped open a little.


	6. Relationship Established

It was a few hours before Bruce could convince Dean to go and shower and eat something, only by promising to remain by Sam’s side and let him know if he did more than sleep. The older hunter finally agreed grudgingly, and then grinned to himself seeing that Thor was standing guard outside the open infirmary door. The Asgardian had changed into more casual jeans and an almost too tight t-shirt, but stood staunchly with Mjolnir at his feet. Dean nodded at Thor and patted his shoulder companionably as he passed. Thor smiled and returned the nod before glancing back into the room where Bruce sat next to the still slumbering man.

Thor was pleased that things had ended on a good note, that young Sam was resting peacefully and being well cared for. The superheroes were all trying to be quiet in respect for the infirmary resident, but honestly, Sam was so deeply asleep in his exhaustion, that even nightmares would not reach him tonight. Thor was also pleased that Sam’s brother was a solid warrior and always under his protection.

Steve and Kevin had returned the Uhaul after finished putting away groceries, then headed into the kitchen to prepare dinner for everyone. The super soldier found himself once more astonished at how easily his team had blended with the bunker team. After the rocky and stressful start to their first meeting, the domesticity of groceries and meal preparation was easy and companionable. It was similar to how well his own team had formed and bonded quickly. He thought about how Bruce was always on edge, worried about being in the wrong place or doing the wrong thing but how he’d simply taken charge of Sam’s care and hadn’t really worried about any of Hulk’s accidental appearance. 

Thor was obviously protective of the younger hunter but had also taken to the older man, as well as the former angel and the prophet. Clint, of course, was too much like Dean in personality to not be friends with him. They seemed to talk on the same level, as well as have the same level of smart mouth. It was obvious that Natasha was taken with the young man, just as he appeared to blush every time he looked in her direction. It was cute. He really hoped they could work it out as neither of them had had a good past in that arena.

Tony was the most astonishing of them. Not only was he offering them monetary and technical support, he had expressed the desire to bring Sam back to the Avenger’s Tower under the guise of getting his help on creating a guide for the supernatural for laypersons. Steve knew there was more to it, but while Tony wasn’t that much older than either hunter, he was beginning to act as an uncle figure role that he perhaps wished he could, since hearing about their severe upbringing. With both of the men being so selfless, Tony’s own suspect childhood brought out the almost fatherly side of him.

Steve smiled to himself as he tuned back in just as Kevin was asking him a question. 

“I’m sorry, what?” He asked after realizing Kevin had stopped and was waiting for a response.

“I was asking when you guys are heading home,” Kevin repeated patiently, shaking his head before going back to slicing up vegetables for the stir fry. 

“Once we know Sam is getting ample rest, I suppose,” Steve responded with a glance at the door that would eventually lead to the Infirmary. Bruce stepped into the room on the end of that sentence, tablet in his hand by his side.

“Sam’s doing well, actually,” the curly haired doctor said with a crooked smile. “I just left Cas with him. He’s been asleep about 3 hours so far. I’m guessing he’ll sleep another 6-8 hours, but he’s to stay in bed for the full 24 hours, unless it’s a bathroom break.” Kevin snorted.

“Yeah, he won’t sleep that long. Why do you think I asked Steve to make stir fry? One of Sam’s favorite foods.” Bruce and Steve looked at Kevin in curiosity.

“Why do you say he won’t sleep that long?” Steve asked before Bruce could.

“Sam’s a natural insomniac. That man never sleeps more than 3-4 hours a night unless he’s dying.” Kevin chuckled and shook his head. “Dean told me that Sam’s had nightmares since he was a little kid and his brain just never shuts down. He’s used to going days without closing his eyes.”

“And Robo Sam never slept,” Dean added as he joined them in fresh clothes, rolling the sleeves up as he walked. “Literally, never slept for the entire 18 months he was topside without his soul. Cas said it was something about needing a soul for the brain to need a reason to close down and process the day.” 

Dean grabbed a beer and popped the top as he leaned against the counter, watching them. Kevin moved on from the bell peppers to the onions, motioning for Steve to continue slicing the steak into slices. Clint and Nat also wandered in, quietly discussing their reports that they had sent to Fury about the incident at the warehouse during the rescue of Dean Winchester. They realized they had walked into another discussion and stopped talking, grabbing bottles of water before moving to the table to sit.

“Well, he’s depleted enough energy that I’d be honestly surprised if he woke up before morning,” Bruce finally said. And as if perfectly timed, Thor’s booming voice could be heard through the halls.

“Bruce! Dr. Banner! He’s awake!”

Everyone except Kevin ran from the room towards the infirmary. 

Upon entering the room, they saw Cas pushing Sam back down on the bed and heard Sam protesting.

“I’m fine, Cas, really,” the soft, scratchy voice said. 

“Yeah?” Dean said teasingly as he stepped up to shove his brother’s shoulders back to meet the mattress. “You think three hours of sleep is all you need, huh?” Sam rolled his eyes but smiled softly. 

“Dean-,” he started. Dean shook his head, leaving one hand on Sam’s chest.

“Uh, uh, little brother. First the Trials nearly kills you, then a team of doctors and superheroes saves your life. Then you get knocked around exorcising a demon. Then get concussed and impersonated by a shapeshifter. To top it all off, you used your physical energy and soul energy to rescue me, even when you weren’t at 100%.”

“Dean-,” Sam whined. His brother lifted the hand on his chest to hold up a finger and wag it in the prone brother’s face.

“Ah, ah, ah, Sammy. From what Bruce tells me, you promised a month of bedrest.” Sam rolled his eyes again but didn’t try to get up. He did look up sheepishly at the people who had come into the room. 

“But we still have to fix Heaven and close Hell,” Sam tried to protest. “I can rest more afterwards.”

“Oh, is that all?” Tony asks. “Just ‘fix Heaven and close Hell’? A walk in the park for you guys, huh?” He crossed his arms and gave a stern look to the young man.

“Sam, while I’m sure you’ll be able to do it,” Steve smiled, “Your brother, Cas, and Kevin need you to be better rested than you currently are. The world needs you to be better rested. We need you to be better rested.” Sam sighed and the fight went out of him.

“Besides,” Tony smirked, “We could just have Bruce insert a catheter and let Natasha tie you to the bed so you don’t get up. Unless you’re too vanilla for something like that.” Dean and Clint laughed out loud at that and laughed harder as Sam blushed to the roots of his hair and even Natasha blushed a little. She swung back and let her arm fly into Clint’s stomach, knocking the air out of his lungs, doubling him over, leaving Dean to laugh alone.

“Fine, FINE!” Sam said forcefully, closing his eyes, trying to make the blush go away. “Can I at least rest in my room, instead of here? The bathroom is closer to my room.” 

Dean continued to laugh, tapping Sam’s chest gently, while Clint coughed between laughs. Natasha glared around at them all, rolling her eyes. 

“Bruce? What do you think?” She asked the doctor, who was hiding a smile of his own.

“As long as he gets back into bed soon, and stays there until morning after tomorrow, I’m okay with it.”

“Can I get a shower?” Sam asked, since they were already open to letting him up, even if only for a short period. Dean finally got his laughing under control.

“Yeah, brother,” he said between gasping breaths. “How about I help you shower and get you into bed while Kev and Steve finish dinner? That way you can eat in bed and then go back to sleep.”

“But I’m not tired anymore,” Sam said, trying to hide the deep yawn that had snuck up on him. Steve shook his head fondly.

“Too bad Cas doesn’t have his mojo anymore,” Dean smirked. “He could just finger touch you to sleep.” Cas nodded, but Tony and Clint gave him the most confused look. Dean laughed again when he realized how that sounded to outsiders. “Cas could touch his fingers to his head and put him to sleep.” They all blinked and Tony and Clint snorted.

“Dean,” Cas spoke up, “I’ll get some comfortable clothes for Sam and leave them in the shower room for you. Then I’ll make sure his room is clean and comfortable.” Sam smiled up at his angel friend.

“Thanks Cas,” Dean replied and Cas left to follow through. Steve headed back to the kitchen to help Kevin and update the young man.

“Need help?” Clint asked, as Dean finally allowed Sam to sit up and helped him turn to legs to the side, sliding the slippers onto his feet while Bruce checked his vitals one more time. 

“Yeah, just support him on that side, if you will, man.” Dean said once Bruce gave him the all clear. Clint stepped to the other side of Sam as he slid forward and onto his own feet again. Between them and Sam’s wane but returning strength, he was able to walk down to the shower room, where Dean asked Clint and Natasha, who had followed closely, to give them some privacy as he was sure Sam would already be mortified enough with his brother helping him shower. When they finally left to return to the kitchen, Dean turned to Sam with a fond smile.

“You and Natasha, huh?” he asked his brother after he turned on the water and adjusted it closer to the really hot temperature Sam favored, but not enough that he himself would be scalded during the shower. Sam let his hair fall into his face as, with Dean’s help, he peeled out of his clothes down to his boxers. Dean didn’t say anything about the boxers, giving his brother that bit of dignity, and undressed to his boxers as well, knowing the soaking was coming.

“She’s really nice,” the young man said gently.

“I guess it doesn’t hurt that she’s drop dead gorgeous and a kick ass super assassin either,” Dean smirked. Rather than blush, Sam smiled broadly and huffed a small laugh.

“At least she’s probably capable enough to save herself if we were ever to get far enough for my curse to affect her.” Sam had taken the soap from Dean to begin washing himself as his brother held him upright under the water, so he didn’t notice when Dean tensed and frowned.

“Yeah, there’s that,” Dean said quietly. He knew his brother felt cursed that every relationship he’d had had ended in the death of the other person and from Sam’s wording, obviously, he and Natasha hadn’t gotten further than flirting. He really wanted to get that notion out of Sam’s head, but he couldn’t lie to him when even he felt the giant that stood before him really was probably cursed.

They both finished cleaning up, leaving the shaving for another day, and dried off, Dean closing his eyes while he held Sam upright to change into fresh boxers and some sweats that Cas had chosen, and Sam looking directly up to the ceiling as he leaned his weight against the wall while Dean dropped his boxers and only pulled the dirty jeans back on, planning to put on clean clothes once he made it back to his own room.

“Are we going to leave dirty skivvies here for people to find later?” Sam asked nervously. Dean caught on that Sam was afraid Natasha might come in later and be offended by the dirty clothes, especially underwear, and sighed before promising to come back and get them to put into the laundry room once he’d gotten Sam into bed.

Just outside the shower room, the found Clint and Nat waiting patiently, talking quietly about something that they instantly clammed up about as soon as they saw the Winchesters. It was a good thing too, Dean thought gratefully, as Sam was beginning to waver as the time went on. Clint immediately stepped up and took Sam’s other arm over his shoulder, helping take the weight as Natasha sent ahead of them to make sure Sam’s room and bed were ready for him. It was companionable silence except for Sam’s stifled yawns and the shuffling of feet as they made their way down the hallway to Sam’s room.

They got him settled into his bed and turned down the lights. Dean patted Sam’s chest and left with Clint, them going into conversation about what it’s like working with SHIELD and being a superhero. Natasha sat on the edge of Sam’s bed and leaned over to gently touch his cheek. Sam blushed but smiled up at her, his eyes sliding closed as he drifted off. She waited a few minutes to make sure he was out before heading to the kitchen to meet the rest of the group. Thor was already coming down the hallway towards the room as she left.

“He’s sleeping, Thor. Let him rest.” She told him as she passed. He only nodded and took up sentry outside Sam’s room once again.

*****

Thor smiled hugely as he watched Kevin approach with the tray. Kevin smiled back nervously.

“Hey, dinner’s ready. You should go eat.” He gestured with his shoulders and chin back a few doors down where the kitchen was.

“Is this food for Samuel, I mean Sam?” he eyed the tray.

“Yes, Dean says he really needs to eat when he gets overtired like this. It’ll help him fall asleep. I’ll take care of Sam and get him fed. You go eat.” When Thor still hesitated, Kevin sighed. “Look, I’ve known Sam a while and he’ll pretty much be in dreamland soon after eating. After you eat, if you really want to come back, you can come back to…” he gestured at Thor and the door, “this. Trust me.” Thor put his hand on Kevin’s shoulder.

“You are wise for one so young. I will put my faith in your ministrations and return after taking my nourishment.” Thor turned and headed off, leaving Kevin to shake his head as he knocked on Sam’s door with his elbow.

“Sam?” There was no sound. Kevin balanced the tray on one knee to free a hand to open the door. He finished pushing it open with his elbow and saw Sam with is eyes closed still. He sat the tray down on the desk and went over to the bed. He put a hand on Sam’s shoulder and gently shook it. Sam blinked his eyes open.

“Hey, Kev,” he mumbled. Kevin helped him sit up against the headboard.

“Dinner,” he said as he put the tray on Sam’s lap. Sam smiled wanly and tried to hand the tray back to him, muttering about not being hungry. “Don’t make me send Dean in here to make you eat, but I think that Natasha wouldn’t mind coming to feed you.” He laughed at Sam’s blush. Sam sat up straighter and gave Kevin a withering look before picking up the fork and diving into the tempting bowl of stir fry. 

“How is it out there?” Sam asked once it was about halfway empty.

“Surreal, as usual,” Kevin shrugged. “Superheroes, angels, gods, and super assassins all eating dinner in a secret society underground bunker. And good luck with Natasha? She’s so hot.” Sam gave him a halfhearted threatening look. Kevin just shrugged again. “What? She is! But everyone is getting along okay. Cas is being Cas, keeping everyone entertained just by being himself.”

Sam nodded, yawning as soon as he put the fork down. He started to hand the tray back to Kevin but was handed the bottle of water that he’d yet to open. He shook his head.

“No way. You need to drink this and lay back down.” Kevin refused to move until Sam rolled his eyes and drank down half of the bottle. He replaced the lid and sat it on his bedside table. Kevin stood up with the tray. At the door he turned to face Sam. “Sam, I’m really glad you’re okay.” 

Sam only grunted as he had already slid back down on the bed, turning to sprawl on his stomach, arms bent around his pillow and knee pulled partly up to his side. His other foot hung off the end of the bed. Kevin heard him take a deep breath, like a weary sigh, before going quiet again. Sam was sleeping deeply before Kevin had fully closed the door behind him.

Coming into the kitchen with its brass #23 on the door, Kevin was greeted by all of them turning to ask him how Sam was faring. He explained that Sam was very tired but had, with a little threatening, eaten the entire bowl and drank half of the bottle of water. They were pleased when he conveyed that the hunter had already fallen into a deep sleep. Thor hurriedly finished his meal and went back to his post outside Sam’s door. Natasha shook her head in amusement and took both of their plates to the sink.

*****

Late the next morning found all of the residents up and moving around, the Avengers packing up their luggage and the bunker residents helping and sharing more information they thought they’d need. Sam was dressed normally and sitting once again in the library, looking much more well rested. They were all shaking hands and saying their farewells.

“Remember,” Steve said, extending his hand to first Dean, then Sam, as Cas and Kevin stood back and let the brothers handle the goodbyes. “Let us know when you’re in the area.”

“I’ll leave you guys on the open list for the Avengers Tower access with security,” Tony was saying while he was tapping away on his tablet. “You’ll get new IDs next week and some keycards that will get you into the common and guest areas, as well as the access cards for your new shared bank account.”

“Thank you all for everything,” Sam said, standing up to shake all of their hands.

“You’re doing fantastic, Sam,” Bruce smiled while saying his goodbyes, “Let’s keep it that way.” Sam laughed lightly and Dean patted his brother’s shoulder.

“Thanks to you, doc,” Dean double-handed his handshake with Bruce.

“My pleasure.” 

Thor stepped over to talk to Cas and Kevin directly. 

“Castiel, I’ll keep in contact and help pass more information as Friga uncovers it to assist in helping the Angels return to Heaven.”

“Thank you, Thor. The Heavenly Host, what little is left of them, thanks you and Asgard.” Cas and Thor nodded to each other in acknowledgement.

“And Kevin,” Thor said turning to him, “Continue to watch out for young Sam. You are an excellent prophet and friend.” Kevin awkwardly hugged Thor.

“You’re going to miss me, Mr. Badass,” Dean smirked at Clint as they shook hands. Clint rolled his eyes with a smile.

“Like a toothache.” Natasha cuffed the back of his head lightly and both of the men laughed. 

She stepped closer to Sam and opened her arms for a hug. Sam leaned down into her reach, but before he could envelope her in his arms, she turned her head and took his face into her hands. His eyes flew open as she planted a soft but urgent kiss on his surprised lips. There was a collective gasp from the room and then dead silence as Sam’s eyes closed and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in closer, letting the kiss continue. When he finally felt her pull back, he opened his eyes and felt flushed all over as he took a few halting breaths to steady himself.

She was smiling up at him and gave him one more quick peck before stepping back and walking away up the stairs. Everyone was watching them in silence, then snapped to her when she reached the top of the stairs with her travel bag over her shoulder and turned to look over the rail at only Sam.

“Call me.”

“Yes…Okay, yes,” Sam gasped out. That broke the spell and the rest of them turned to glance at the deep blush of the tall man.

“And on that note,” Tony coughed. The rest of the Avengers gathered up their bags and headed up the stairs. Dean accompanied them to the bunker door to see them off. After the door clanged shut behind them, he turned and stared at his younger brother, who was still standing there bent over, stunned.

“Way to go, Sammy.” Dean laughed as Sam broke into a dizzy grin.


	7. Preview of Work 3

“Sam?” Steve looked over upon hearing Natasha say the name after answering her phone. He gave her a questioning look and she shrugged. 

At first, there was no sound except hitched breaths.

“Sam? What’s going on? Are you okay?” She asked around the lump in her throat. 

“Tash. They’re all gone,” was the broken reply. Sam’s voice was soft but cracked and raw. Natasha’s breath caught and she closed her eyes. “Gone where?” She didn’t really want to ask but needed to know.

“The angel’s killed Kevin.” Sam said softly before swallowing audibly. “Cas disappeared after he went to Heaven to stop Metaton. And…,” he sobbed once, “Dean’s dead and his body is missing.” At that, he devolved into broken sobbing. Tears prickled Nat’s eyes as she pictured Sam huddled alone and shaking in the dark bunker with no one there to see him.

“Oh my god, Sam,” she breathed out. “Are you going to be okay?” There was more sobbing but it softened as he tried to calm himself. She knew he was only calling because he was desperate as he’d never willingly pull any of them into the Winchester’s problems if it could be avoided. She was hoping that the situation with SHIELD and the Winter Soldier could be resolved soon enough for her to get there and hold him through his sorrow.

“No. No, I’m not,” Sam cried as he hung up the phone and hung his head between his knees and let the wail of anguish escape as he sat on the edge of Dean’s bed.

Natasha gasped and immediately dialed her phone for the only person she could think of who could help right now, understanding that she was too far away and too wrapped up into the current situation to be able to help. When the other side answered, her voice was not as steady as she would have liked.

“I’m sorry to throw this at you, but Sam needs help. Now.”

….tbc in Work #3

**Author's Note:**

> I'll post new chapters as I write them. Otherwise, I'll edit them to death and never get them put up.


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